Two former OnlyFans subscribers have filed a class-action lawsuit against the platform, alleging fraud because the content creators reportedly did not interact directly with them, but instead used agencies to “impersonate” the models they believed they were communicating with.
The plaintiffs, M. Brunner and J. Fry, both of Illinois, claim they thought the creators they subscribed to, some with hundreds of thousands of followers, were speaking to them personally through direct messages and video clips.
Both claim that if they had known they weren’t communicating directly with creators, they wouldn’t have subscribed or would have paid less for their subscription. Furthermore, according to the compalint, they would consider spending money on the platform again if OnlyFans prevented creators from using agencies to communicate with users.
The lawsuit has been filed specifically against OnlyFans’ parent companies: Fenix Internet, LLC and Fenix International Limited.
It’s important to note that the plaintiffs don’t provide concrete evidence in the complaint that they were communicating with agency chatters rather than the creators themselves. However, they claim to have grown suspicious after signing up.
Among their concerns, they pointed out that it would be unrealistic for a single individual to send the volume of direct messages or videos required to generate revenue from 700,000 fans, as was allegedly the case with one of the creators.
Fry specifically claims that he “created an account primarily to engage in friendly conversation with models and share photographs of his culinary creations,” but became suspicious after noticing inconsistencies and errors in the messages he received.
The lawsuit accuses OnlyFans of “exercising its discretion to enrich itself while engaging in the deception of its customers, knowingly and willfully frustrating the agreed-upon common purposes of the contract and disappointing the reasonable expectations of Plaintiffs and Class Members, thereby depriving them of the benefit of their business.”
It’s worth mentioning that this isn’t the first lawsuit related to the topic. In November 2021, a lawsuit against Unruly Agency alleged that the company tricked fans into revealing “their deepest and most intimate personal secrets, including sexual fantasies and fetishes, marital problems, suicidal ideation, and other private desires to account managers.”
More recently, in July 2024, five OnlyFans users also filed a class-action lawsuit against OnlyFans’ parent company, alleging that “chatter scams” defraud fans. Last month, a judge ordered this case to go to trial in 2027.
OnlyFans has not responded to 404 Media’s requests for comment on this new class action lawsuit.